Deuteronomy 5:1-5: a reflection

1Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.” 2The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3The LORD didn’t make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today. 4The LORD spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, 5(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the LORD’s word; for you were afraid because of the fire, and didn’t go up onto the mountain) saying,

As Moses prepares to restate the law to a new generation, he says something remarkable about the covenant God made at Horeb: The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today. Strictly, of course, the covenant had been made a generation earlier, with their parents. But Moses insists that it is not merely a piece of past history belonging to their ancestors; it is with us, now, personally binding on the living generation standing before him.

Notice the move Moses makes: from past to present, from theirs to ours. He will not let the covenant become a distant historical event that happened to other people long ago. He presses it into the present tense: this is with us, today, alive, now. The faith of the fathers must become the faith of the living, personally owned, not merely inherited as a story about the past.

That is a vital word about our own faith. It is possible to treat faith as something that belonged to previous generations, our parents, our forebears, a matter of family history or tradition, rather than something personally ours today. Moses will not allow it: the covenant is with us, the living, now. Faith must be personally owned, not merely inherited. Do not treat your faith as a story about the past, a tradition handed down but not truly yours. Hear Moses: the covenant is with us, today, alive. Make it your own, in the present tense, as a living relationship with the God who speaks to you now, not only to those who came before.

Lord, Moses insisted that your covenant was made not only with the fathers but with us, the living, here today, refusing to let it become a distant story about the past. Help me own my faith in that same present tense. Keep me from treating it as merely inherited, a matter of family history or tradition belonging to those who came before. Make your covenant real and personal to me now, today, a living relationship with you who speak to me still. Let my faith be my own, not merely handed down; let it be with me, alive, today.